IBM announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire
Lombardi, a privately held Business Process Management software company
based in Austin, Texas.
Lombardi's BPM software and services helps organizations automate
and integrate business processes to increase efficiencies and reduce
costs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Dec. 16 announcement reinforces IBM's commitment and investments
in service oriented architecture (SOA) and BPM and builds on recent BPM
acquisitions such as ILOG which have helped IBM extend its industry
leadership capabilities. With an SOA community of more than 8,000
clients and 7,400 business partners, and a BPM community of 5,000
clients and 2,500 business partners, IBM continues to build momentum in
these areas.
IBM officials said Lombardi's department-level approach to
delivering process management complements IBM's existing strengths in
enterprise-wide process management software and adds a new dimension
for customers looking for an end-to-end, integrated solution that
automates human tasks and workflows.
"Any discussion on business improvement inevitably leads to
improving the processes that are at the heart of every company," said
Craig Hayman, general manager of IBM Application and Integration
Middleware, in a statement. "Recognizing this, IBM has strengthened its
presence and investments in business process and integration software
to meet these growing client demands. Lombardi fills out our company's
portfolio in this key area."
According to market research firm IDC, the market opportunity for
BPM software will increase at a compound annual growth rate of nearly
15 percent over the next four years, from $1.7 billion in 2009 to $3.0
billion by 2013.
Company officials said Lombardi brings capabilities that complement
the recent product upgrades and new product announcements in IBM's
WebSphere portfolio, as Lombardi has long supported WebSphere. Through
its collaborative, graphical approach to process application
development based on a WebSphere infrastructure, Lombardi extends IBM's
customizable, role-based capabilities to enable business users to
rapidly change applications as needed.
"IBM has been a long-standing partner in addressing the core
business needs of customers across a wide range of industries," said
Rod Favaron, CEO of Lombardi, in a statement. "Our shared vision has
been to deliver technology that helps companies improve their
effectiveness by better managing the processes that keep their
businesses running. Becoming part of the IBM family will take this
vision to a higher level and enable us to explore new opportunities
together in product development, integration and go-to-market
strategies."
Existing clients have already benefited from a combined IBM and
Lombardi portfolio. For example, IBM worked with Ford Motor Company,
which needed to speed new products to market. Both Lombardi and IBM are
providing solutions for process improvement at the departmental level
as well as a platform for process automation. These solutions are
designed to help streamline development processes which typically have
multiple iterations of designs from disparate teams, IBM said.
Moreover, Lombardi has strong customer relationships in the financial
services, government, healthcare, insurance, life sciences,
manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications industries that will
complement IBM's existing customer base and solid partner
ecosystem.
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